About Me

Born in the late 60's, Chesy hails from a Welsh mining village with a long name and was pretty glad when he got the Hell out of there. He got into Rock/Metal in about 1980, thanks to a TISWAS related incident (Rainbow video for All Night Long) and thankfully has never looked back.
Chesy often sang solo in the school choir, but thanks to a puberty related incident his voice is now completely bolloxed, although in his own head Paul thinks he sounds like a blend of Coverdale and Dio (R.I.P).
He was brought up on the classics - Deep Purple, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, Rush, Whitesnake and loved melodic rock and the Hair Bands of the 80's. (Nowadays, he has progressed a little and prefers a more technical and/or progressive metal - Dream Theater, Rush, Symphony X, Porcupine Tree, Pain Of Salvation, Spock's Beard. He hates Black and Death Metal (can't stand the grunting) but for some unknown reason loves the magnificent Opeth! He wont stop this blog until his beloved FM finally play the likes of the NEC as a headlining act!!!

Sunday, 17 April 2016

Gene The Werewolf - 'The Loner' Album Review

Jesus! How time flies. I cant believe its three-and-a-half
years since Gene The Werewolf completely rocked my little world and blew by
ears into submission with their first album for Frontiers, the excellent ‘Rock
‘n’ Roll Animal’. Whilst it didn’t hit the top spot in my 2012 albums (it made
No 5 after just a couple of weeks listening) it became a firm favourite.
However it was the album I listened to the most in 2013 (and quite a bit
since), so this new ‘opus’ has a lot to live up to…..

Gene the Werewolf has never paid attention to trends. Nor
has the Pittsburgh-based quintet been part of a scene or the hipster's band of
choice. They are iconoclasts by virtue of their music, rock 'n' roll survivors
in thrall to the genre's power and energy. And they're damn good at it, even if
they are a dying breed. "It's
strange to feel like you are one of the last of your own kind," says
Gene, the band's dynamic front-man and lead singer.

In a perfect world it's music that should be blasting on car
radios from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, on jukeboxes in dives and biker bars and in
every country in-between. Why, I hear you ask? Because Gene The Werewolf play
full on ‘good-time party rock’ that is almost defunct these days. Posters of
the hirsute Gene and his bandmates – guitarist Drew Donegan, bassist Tim
Schultz, drummer Nick Revak and keyboard player Aaron Mediate -- should be on
the walls of kids (and quite a few adults) across the globe. Whilst they are
not the same as Wyld Stallyns, they deserve to have a ‘universal’ appeal. Put
Gene the Werewolf on stage at the Whisky A Go-Go on the Sunset Strip or The
Troubadour in West Hollywood in 1989, and they'd kill. But times have changed.
These guys don't have access to a DeLorean (they may have, but not the Doc
Brown version). The next best thing is an album like "The Loner" that
takes you to those halcyon days when rock 'n' roll was hip and cool and
fearless. If you yearn for rock music that echoes Motley Crue, Alice Cooper and
Guns 'N Roses, with dashes of Whitesnake and Winger in the mix, "The
Loner" certainly deserves your attention.

The good thing is rock fans is the ‘’The Loner’’ takes off
exactly where ‘’RnRA’’ left off. To be honest there’s not enough song writing
about the real social issues that the world is experiencing in the 21st Century. Gene the
Werewolf address this with the opening track ‘The Walking Dead’ and its Gene’s
take on a zombie apocalypse, and the song itself feels like you’re being attacked
around the ears by Rick and Darryl from TMCs TWD! Gene’s vocals are the
highlight, but when combined with the full assault package, and not one but TWO
solo’s courtesy of Winger/Whitesnakes Reb Beach, it’s a beautiful thang!

‘Boogeyman’ opens up with a bit of Rainbow’s LLRNR riff, but
that’s where it ends and the Werewolves vibe takes over. Few bands can match
the party vibe of GTW, and only GTW can come up with titles like ‘Too Kool For
Skool’; and when he sings ‘’when youre
6’2’’ and got sex appeal you can get any girl you want’’ you know you and
the band are in for a great time. ‘The Loner’ is simple rock a la The Rolling
Stones/ Georgia Satellites and when its done as simple and as pure as this, its
anthemic gold dust. ‘Let It Loose’ takes its lead from AC/DC with a ‘Gene’ twist.
If Angus is looking for someone to fill Brian Johnson’s huge shoes, then Gene’s
the man! Basically, the way AC/DC are at the moment, if I were Angus Young, I’d
do a Ritchie Blackmore and just drop myself into GTW! Problem solved.

The ‘DC’ vibe carries through into ‘A World To Rely On’, and
‘Fortune And Fame’ is the kind of song that cannot fail to have you bouncing
off the walls at home playing the air instrument of your choice. If you fail to
rock out to this song then you’re completely deaf, or just a twat! ‘Easy Woman’
goes all the way back to 1958 with its Leiber/Stoller salvo from the Elvis
Presley classic ‘Trouble’. ‘If You Want Me’ is as melodic and as close to a
ballad that these guys can muster. The final song (its come way too quick) is
‘The Best I Can’ and showcases the honky-tonk piano of Randy Baumann of WDVE-FM
and slide guitar by The Clarks' guitar maestro, Rob James. Its a great end to a
great album!

At just 36 mins long it harks back to the great days of the
80s and vinyl where a lengthy album came in at 45 mins! As a great sage once
said ‘its not the length, its what you do with it’ and GTW have done it in
style.

In a nutshell, ‘The Loner’ is one of THE BEST ‘party anthem
rock n roll anthem’ albums you’ll hear all year (did I mention its got
anthems?). Gene The Werewolf are one of your favourite bands that you haven’t
got into yet. In a world where AC/DC are clinging onto a rock like a dying
limpet, bands like Gene The Werewolf deserve to fill some of the void that will
soon be left behind by this great band.

This is essential listening if you long for bands who were ‘your
world’ in the 80s – such as Crue, Whitesnake, Y&T, Enuff Z’Nuff, etc, then
Gene The Werewolf is a worthy addition to your collection.

1 comment:

Loved the first GTW album too. I think this one was over-produced in terms of the vocals. I love Gene's vocals, but something about the way this album was put together drowned them out quite a bit. It did not have the same "clean" sound the first album did. That being said, I bet it's phenomenal live.